


Sleeping With Ghosts

by newtype



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Gay Character, Drug Use, Earth, Keith's Shack, M/M, SHEITH - Freeform, Smoking, post-season 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-25 03:06:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14967779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/newtype/pseuds/newtype
Summary: Keith and Shiro finally take a much-needed break.After returning to Earth, they're left asking themselves "what's next"?





	Sleeping With Ghosts

**Author's Note:**

> This drabble was inspired by spreadbean's art, found [here.](https://twitter.com/spreadbeans/status/1008568861720006656)

 

 

> art by spreadbeans

 

Too many months had passed since they last did this.

Shiro ran a hand through his white hair, combing it despite the wind blowing and sand sifting up into the air. Besides him, Keith fumbled with a packet of cigarettes, his uneven nails chipping away at the plastic film sealing them shut. Black locks covered half his face with his head bent down, his focus entirely occupied on getting the taste of nicotine between their lips as soon as possible.

“Need help with that?” Shiro asked.

“Of course not,” Keith laughed dryly. “I’m doing all the helping from now on. You rest. Here.”

Stripping a cigarette from the box, Keith planted it between his fingers, and pulled out another for himself. Digging through his dad’s old stuff, he was fortunate enough to discover an unopened box of smokes and a few used lighters. The others were fast to dismiss them as Shiro and Keith preferred to spend their time alone, leaving the shack entirely to themselves. Maybe there was something a little sad in that — the desert felt ever-expanding from the ground compared to the speck it resembled thousands of feet above.

They needed solid ground. Two feet back on Earth. Home.

“I missed this,” Shiro muttered. Keith leaned over his shoulder, lighter in hand, and helped place the cigarette between Shiro’s lips. As he took a drag, Keith turned his head towards Shiro’s collar, sneaking a kiss on the scarred skin resembling a scrambled galaxy of stars. With a flick of his fingers, he lit the butt of the cigarette and then his own.

Insects hum in the trees. The tire-swing Shiro helped him build swung haplessly.

Shiro opened his mouth and exhaled the smoke. Both watched the cloud disappear with mild interest, the smell and taste of the nicotine like a long-lost friend. Neither of them would admit missing such things in the middle of an inter-galactic war. But creature comforts were still comforts, and now didn’t seem like the time for denying what they worked so dearly to save.

“Y’know, I almost forgot you smoked,” Keith admitted. “We’re lucky we found them in my dad’s old shit. I wonder what else we’ll find here. I bet he has some old pictures and his Garrison uniform.”

Shiro cradled the smoke in his one good hand. Keith paid close attention. No, he wasn’t afraid of a fall. The bright red eye of the lit cigarette cast a wary glare straight through his stomach. Now they had to confront their ghosts, open old locked doors while the others reunited with their families. A whole mess of what-ifs and abandonment issues to work through in-place of a happy reunion. Keith inhaled deeply and savored the taste of the smoke, exhaling through his nose with his arm propped on his knee.

“You had that look in your face again,” Shiro answered. “I saw the maps. I can’t believe you kept searching for me all that time, Keith. God, it feels like I put your entire life on hold.”

“No,” Keith replied. No, he was going to shoot this down as soon as possible. No one had put anyone’s life on hold.

_It’s killing me when you’re away._

“I searched for you because it was the only thing I knew how to do. I wasn’t going to give up on you. Because you never gave up on me.”

Keith didn’t believe in karma. But he did believe in the good will of people. He believed in reciprocating for people’s deeds. He believed in  _love._

“You sound like your old man,” Shiro laughed. “Old Officer Kogane. He was meticulous.”

“Who knows. I’m just glad everything is still here, ” Keith felt himself lighten, like a rock had been lifted from his chest and he could breath. Having another body next to him helped; his balance had been re-fitted with Shiro on his side, his anchor.

Other than the Earth’s gravity, his parent’s estranged relationship with the planet was Keith’s only reason for staying. Krolia had given up her life as a Blade to start a family. His father knew the way of the land to survive and make a home for them, a place all their own. And then the war took all of that away. Shiro knew where to pull the conversation, how to center him back on what was real, what was and would be tangible between their fingers. The sand was brick-red and worn by years of summers and dry weather. It watched Keith grow into the young man Shiro made him into.

“It still feels unreal. Krolia has to adjust too,” he continued. “I told her everything about you, Shiro. I hope I didn’t embarrass you.”

Shiro took another drag. Keith stared at his own cigarette and flicked the ashes aimlessly into the sand. A breeze knocked up dust, sending it swirling in the distance with the thistle-weed and rubble.

“Nah,” Shiro answered. “You didn’t. Like I said, it was an honor. I can definitely see the resemblance.” The laugh-lines on his mouth perked up. “Although I bet if I ever said that to her face, she’d give me beating for it.”

“Well, that’s always in the cards. But I doubt it. She likes you. She thinks you’re responsible.” Keith stared at the glowing embers at his fingertips, like burnt stars.

“Then don’t tell her about this,” Shiro gestured at the smokes. Keith grinned and sidled beside him, palm flat against the smooth wood of the porch. His legs barely hung off the edge while Shiro’s feet firmly planted themselves in the earth. A warm, heavy smell came from the desert. Arid and nostalgic. Keith felt his throat burn, like a pinch, and realized tears were prickling his eyes.

“I’m glad you’re home,” Keith said. He believed in Earth. He believed, with Shiro and Krolia, and their shelter in the middle of nowhere, they’d be safe.

“It’s good to be back. I missed you.”

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/watsnewbussycat)


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